John Calvin Commentary Luke 6

On the second-first Sabbath, it is beyond all question that this Sabbath belonged to one of the festival days which the Law required to be observed once every year. Some have thought that there were two festival days in immediate succession; but since the Jews had arranged their festival days after the Babylonian captivity so that one day always intervened between them, that opinion is set aside. Others maintain with greater probability that it was the last day of the solemnity, which was as well attended as the first.

I am more inclined to favor those who understand it as the second festivity in the year; and this agrees exceedingly well with the name given to it, the second-first Sabbath, because, among the great Sabbaths which were annually observed, it was the second in the order of time. Now the first was the Passover, and it is therefore probable that this was the feast of first-fruits (Exodus 23:15–16).

But he knew their thoughts. If Matthew states the truth, they had openly declared by their language what was in their minds; and therefore Christ replies not to their secret thoughts, but to express words.

But both may be true: that they spoke plainly, and yet that Christ discerned their secret thoughts. For they did not openly avow their designs, and Matthew himself tells us that their question was intended to take Christ by surprise. Consequently, Luke means nothing more than that Christ was aware of their insidious designs, though not expressed in words.

Whom also he named Apostles. This may be explained in two ways: either that, at a subsequent period, when He introduced them into their office, He gave them this name—or that, with a view to their future rank, He bestowed on them this title, in order to inform them why they were separated from the ordinary class and for what purpose they were destined. The latter view agrees well with the words of Mark, for he says that Christ appointed twelve to be with him, and to send them forth to preach. He intended to make them His companions, so that they might afterwards receive a higher rank. For, as I have already explained, when he says, to be with him, and to send them forth to preach, he does not mean that both were to take place at the same time.

Woe to you that are rich. As Luke has related not more than four kinds of blessings, so he now contrasts with them four curses, so that the clauses mutually correspond. This contrast not only tends to strike terror into the ungodly, but to arouse believers, that they may not be lulled to sleep by the vain and deceitful allurements of the world. We know how prone men are to be intoxicated by prosperity or ensnared by flattery; and for this reason, the children of God often envy the reprobate when they see everything go prosperously and smoothly for them.

He pronounces a curse on the rich — not on all the rich, but on those who receive their consolation in the world; that is, who are so completely occupied with their worldly possessions, that they forget the life to come. The meaning is: riches are so far from making a man happy, that they often become the means of his destruction. Otherwise, the rich are not excluded from the kingdom of heaven, provided they do not become snares for themselves or fix their hope on the earth, so as to shut the kingdom of heaven against them. This is finely illustrated by Augustine, who, in order to show that riches are not in themselves a hindrance to the children of God, reminds his readers that poor Lazarus was received into the bosom of rich Abraham.

Woe to you who are filled. Woe to you who laugh now. In the same sense, he pronounces a curse on those who are satiated and full: because they are lifted up by confidence in the blessings of the present life, and reject those blessings which are of a heavenly nature. A similar view must be taken of what he says about laughter: for by those who laugh he means those who have given themselves up to Epicurean mirth, who are plunged in carnal pleasures, and spurn every kind of trouble which would be found necessary for maintaining the glory of God.